1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to animated drawings, particularly to a method for creating drawings in sequence, especially for animation, with the use of electronic graphics equipment.
2. Description of Prior Art
The art of animation is the creation of an illusion of motion by rapidly displaying a series of drawings, each drawing showing a stage of movement slightly changed from the one before. The optical illusion of motion is caused by the persistence of vision. Some people insist, however, that animation is more than just showing movement: it is about creating a feeling of life and character in a cartoon figure. This is a justifiable argument since the word "animate" really means "to make alive." There are many well known such cartoon characters who many people consider to be "real." The thought that Bugs Bunny or Bulwinkle are drawings never occurs to most people who know and enjoy these personalities. Thus this kind of animation is also known as "character animation" or "cartoon animation."
Heretofore, many methods for producing hand-drawn animated drawings and of generating animated drawings using electronic-computers have been tried. Many of these methods have been considerably successful. They are used to produce several thousand minutes of animated pictures each year. While methods have been developed using computers in which a human artist can make still drawings, very little has been done for the traditional art of cartoon or hand-drawn character animation. Animation is still made using paper, pencil, hand inked and hand painted clear acetate sheets, and movie film--despite the cost of labor, time, and mess involved--primarily because of the artistic freedom and control it provides over present computer methods.
A glossary of words describing conventional animation concepts and some computer terminology is provided below. These terms are used throughout this patent description.